i have a Poncho avocado that i got from Top Tropicals early this year, i potted it up into a 7 gallon pot and it was doing ok but not really growing much compared to the other avocados. recently the leaves started turning brown and now they are all dropping. i have a few other avocados (all potted) that have some leaf burn but the Poncho had all leaves browning starting at the periphery of every leaf. not sure if it is from the sun, or excess salts or fertilizer burn (these were what i was finding on google when searching for browning avocado leaves). last year i had a Lula avocado and it had also dropped all its leaves but it came back and grew more lush before it got killed by a deep freeze this past winter. not sure what to do with the Poncho.
Probably root rot, I had that happen to a lila I had in a pot. Or possibly verticillium wilt, which I am sure mine has that still, which apparently they don’t ever get over it, just can kind of learn to live with it. Avocados just hate being in a pot, I’ll never try to grow one in a container again, too much troubles.
i don’t see dieback in the branches though? i have to keep avocados in pots for at least the first year, the 5 that have been in pots for a year do need to go in the ground soon.
Were they in the greenhouse until recently? If so it could be a bit of sun shock, maybe move them to part shade or at least afternoon shade
A photo would help a lot, but when it starts at the edge of the leaves like that I would assume either salt burn (including fert burn) or wet feet. I never have issues with salt here, but my potted avocados show root stress every winter.
If all the leaves are turning entirely brown and falling off, that’s starting to sound more like a root pathogen, likely due to prolonged wet feet. Best guess would be Phytophthora, which is usually what gets avocados with wet feet. Here’s what that can look like according to Integrated Pest Management for Avocados:
But if only the older leaves are falling off, that’s normal, especially during the spring flush, and they can look pretty weird before they drop.
Here’s what the book shows for salt burn:
If all the leaves are turning entirely brown and falling off, that’s starting to sound more like a root pathogen, likely due to prolonged wet feet.
But if only the older leaves are falling off, that’s normal, especially during the spring flush, and they can look pretty weird before they drop.
Here’s what the book shows for salt burn:
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My avocado had that damage from high salt content in municipal water. But after good rainy season it all washed away and they are doing fine for now. I hope rain keep coming down.
Weird that you posted the word for word post that @swincher made.
As mentioned a photo would really help
There was just a missing [quote] tag at the beginning, you can see the [/quote] at the end.
Uploading: image1.jpeg…
haven’t watered with tap water recently, they’ve been getting rainwater the past two weeks or so, and i always check the dampness of the soil before i ever water because i am so afraid of overwatering avocados
I am not an expert on avocado tree but to me, it looks like salt burn. It is all about the soil. if you have really good soil you don’t have to worry about over watering. Even if you didn’t give tap water lately, salt might have been accumulated in the soil.
It looks like it’s in a pot, though, not in the ground. I don’t think that most tap water in @jamie’s area has salt problems like some parts of CA/Texas/Arizona, for example.
While it could be salt burn, my money is on root rot. It should be very easy to tell if you can slip the tree out of the pot carefully and inspect the roots along the edge of the pot. They should be white or cream color and flexible, without blackened, brittle sections. If the roots look black, try to let it get very dry between watering for awhile (wait for leaves to droop a little), and maybe it can bounce back. But I know it often is the start of a decline.
To give an idea of what this cultivar like like when the leaves are a little happier, here’s my in-ground Poncho, starting a spring flush with just a few feeble flowers still not opened:
The last flush of fall was very pale and never turned dark green. I believe this is something that some avocados do in response to cooler temperatures, rather than being a sign of needing nitrogen, but I fed it a little fish emulsion anyhow last week, just in case. I rarely give my trees much in the way of fertilizer, though, and I’ve never seen fertilizer burn, which is another possibility for your tree if you’ve been feeding it.
yes, my poncho looked like that (paler green leaves) except it has never put out new growth, but it did have a few flowers in the late winter/early spring. the poncho and brazos belle i had ordered from Top Tropicals were not the healthiest looking avocados when i got them and they were scrawny little things, very disappointed, won’t order from them again. my other avocados are doing good though and my Lila and one Fantastic has fruit. they dropped some fruit but i’m guessing it’s because they’re too young and abort them.
Yeah ordering avocados for me has been all miss. A Joey and Lila I’ve ordered both died but came very weak. A pancho I picked up from a local nursery is good and a lila I got online is alive still but it was touch and go for a while, that’s why I ordered the second one which it ended up dying.
My main problem with mail order avocados was mislabeled trees from Fast Growing Trees. Both the Brazos Belle and Poncho from them were not even Mexican type (no scent, died from mild freeze), and they were very expensive.
Getting scionwood and starting seeds has been much better for me. Tropical Acres sent some great scionwood, as well as TFF members, and the stuff from the UC germplasm (which you need to get in person in SoCal). I absolutely think it’s not worth buying an avocado tree for mail order. They are overpriced, often in poor health, and at least in my experience often mislabeled.
I agree, a natural farm looks like they have healthy stubby plants but the price has kept me from ordering from them in case the plant doesn’t match the picture. Which is often the case
so far every other avocado tree i have ordered from Florida online nurseries and at local nurseries have been healthy looking, large trees, lots of laterals with nearly inch thick trunks. even the Brogdons i got at Walmart were beautiful. the problem is these nurseries don’t know the rootstock if you ask them. I assume it’s most likely Lula or Waldin but neither of these are cold hardy, and even though I bought cold hardy Mexican varieties (Fantastic, Joey, Lila, Mexicola Grande, Poncho, Brazos Belle), I have to protect the graft area and rootstock if it goes below freezing because I don’t know what rootstock is being used.
i have to learn how to graft, trees are getting too expensive.
Avocado is a great one to learn with! It’s easy to cut, I’ve had good success even with ugly knifework. My failures are mostly from grafting too early (when they aren’t growing yet in the middle of winter) or when I do a lousy job wrapping the scionwood with buddy tape in summer and it dessicates.